Visitor expenditure in Victoria reaches record high

Tourism spending in Victoria has hit a record high of $35 billion annually, reaching the Victorian Government’s 2024 tourism target more than a year ahead of schedule.

The latest data - released by Tourism Research Australia today - showed visitor expenditure in Victoria for the year ending March 2023 surpassed the 2019 pre-COVID peak of $32.5 billion.

Leading the nation’s tourism recovery, Victoria also attracted 22.1% of Australia’s total visitor expenditure over the 12-month period and made the largest market share gains in the country with 2.9% growth.

The research also revealed that Melbourne remains the top interstate overnight leisure destination in Australia, with 3.6 million visitors staying 14.6 million nights and spending $5.1 billion.

Regional Victoria continued to deliver outstanding results with all tourism regions hitting all-time highs, with visitor spending in Phillip Island increasing by 75%, High Country up by 73% and the Grampians rising by 66% since 2019.

Overall intrastate overnight visitation numbers to regional Victoria were up six% since 2019, with total nights increasing by eight% and expenditure up 58%.

International markets continued to recover reaching $4.2 billion in visitor expenditure in Victoria in the year ending March 2023 - approximately 50% of 2019 levels.

China has returned as the number one international market after only reopening in January and India continues to be a growing international market with visitor expenditure now 11% higher than in 2019.

The record tourism figures have been supported by an extensive major and business events calendar and Visit Victoria’s campaigns Stay close, go further and Get Set - Melbourne which lures more people to visit. Both campaigns reached more than 15 million people combined in the year ending March 2023. 

In May, the Victorian Government released its vision to grow the state’s tourism industry and create jobs over the next 10 years with Experience Victoria 2033, an initiative building on the $633 million Visitor Economy Recovery and Reform Plan - which outlined the goal to achieve $35 billion in visitor expenditure by June 2024.

Commenting on the figures, Victorian Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Steve Dimopoulos stated “tourism is critical to the state’s economy and we back the industry because it creates jobs and supports so many Victorian businesses.”

“These are outstanding results for the Victorian tourism industry which has shown incredible resilience and innovation in recent years.”

Image: Grampians Peaks Trail. Credit: Parks Victoria.